This photo won the Institute for the Environment’s 2013 Eye on the Environment photo contest. It was also featured in the New York Times and used as the cover for “In the Shadow of the Wall,” the first report from the Migrant Border Crossing Survey.

On February 7, authorities released the autopsy report of 16-year-old Nogales, Sonora resident José Antonio Elena Rodriguez. A U.S. Border Patrol agent, firing from the United States last October 10, killed Jose Antonio. The findings of the autopsy paint a troubling picture of that evening’s tragic events.

A small altar marks the spot where José Antonio died. Blood stains were visible for several days after he was killed October 10, 2012.

According to a reporton the autopsy, Border Patrol shot the young man between eight and 11 times. All but one of those bullets struck him in the back. Most of the wounds were found to have an upward trajectory, a strange finding given that the Border Patrol agent was firing down into Mexico from the top of a roughly 15-foot cliff. Medical examiners conducted the autopsy the morning after the shooting with the Nogales, Sonora State Attorney General’s office.

There’s hate, and then there’s uninformed hate. David Weissman’s recent op-ed on undocumented immigration is a clear example of the latter.

Indeed, most of the numbers he calls to his defense come from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and whose founder, John Tanton, is a proud white supremacist. I took issue with most of Weissman’s piece, but because of space constraints I will only address two of the author’s most noxious views.

As with many deportations, René Meza Huerta’s started with a traffic stop. The Tucson Police Department (TPD) had received a call about a suspected kidnapping of six children from a man who saw Huerta’s and his girlfriend’s children getting into the hatchback of their newly purchased 99 Mercury Cougar. TPD was searching for the car when they pulled Huerta over in the early afternoon of Sunday, February 17. After determining that no kidnapping had taken place, TPD officers asked Huerta for his driver’s license, a document he did not have. Deciding that they had probable cause to suspect Huerta was in the country without proper documentation, TPD called the Border Patrol (BP), which came to detain him.

This is a scene that plays out constantly in communities within 100 air miles of the US-Mexico border, the so-called “constitution-free zone” where BP has expansive powers of search and seizure. In Arizona, this is compounded by Senate Bill 1070 (also called SB 1070), the state’s infamous 2010 “show me your papers” law that was partially upheld by the US Supreme Court in June of 2011. Section 2(b) of the law, which was not struck down, requires all state law enforcement officers, “when practicable, to determine the immigration status of the person, except if the determination may hinder or obstruct an investigation,” when “reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien and is unlawfully present in the United States.”

There’s a lot about Huerta’s deportation that makes it totally unexceptional, most importantly that it resulted in the separation of yet another parent from his children. What sets it apart is that somebody tried to stop it: Raúl Alcaraz Ochoa, a day labor organizer with the Southside Worker Center and member of the migrant justice group Corazón de Tucson.

Ochoa’s decision to place himself under a BP truck to prevent the detention and likely deportation of Huerta was a bold act of civil disobedience and a tremendous personal risk. Ochoa, who was born in Mexico, is a legal permanent resident, meaning that he is subject to deportation if convicted of certain crimes. Ochoa’s and Huerta’s arrests sparked a 300-strong protest in front of TPD’s headquarters the next day, little more than 12 hours after the previous afternoon’s events. Attendees demanded the immediate release without charges of both men, an end to TPD/BP collaboration and a halt to all deportations.

Truthout interviews Raúl Ochoa below. The interview is followed by a video of René Huerta’s account of his arrest, incarceration, “trial” and deportation. The two men discuss the events of that February afternoon and, more broadly, their thoughts on what contemporary immigration enforcement means for undocumented communities and the role civil disobedience should play in the ongoing struggle for migrant justice.

The Tijuana River courses through 1,750 square miles of southern California and Mexico. Its impacts on surrounding border communities have shifted over the years. Beginning as a man made river, the water has become a depository for waste and sewage since the 1950s. Treatment plants mitigate many harmful toxins and pollutants. The fact remains; the watershed is overwhelmed with chemicals, sediment, waste and garbage during heavy rain flow. Contamination of water through sewage is a pressing concern for border area residents. As the city of Tijuana grows in population, their lack of infrastructure and inadequate water treatment facilities pose a threat to watershed residents on both sides of the border. The primary threat is pathogenic contamination.

A coliform bacterium is a component of human waste, which indicates the presence of other pathogens in the water. With direct contact, people are at risk for illness such as Hepatitis A, giardia, E. coli infection and SARS. Data from the EPA shows high levels of coliform from February of 2003, 2008 and 2009. In addition, each year had high precipitation levels. The South Bay Treatment Plant in San Ysidro treats 25 million gallons daily. The plant functions during dry conditions, yet surpasses its capacity during the rainy season by millions of gallons. Untreated water flows through the Tijuana River and estuary, eventually meeting the Pacific Ocean.

This story provides an inside look into the water quality of the Tijuana River and how both sides of the border are addressing this environmental issue. See the website for full details >>

María’s mother, who was then undocumented, had fears of being deported so she left the country in 1994 with hopes that a family member would sponsor her.

Barrios left during a time when immigration tensions were high. California voters had approved Proposition 187, the “Save our State” Initiative. The law barred undocumented immigrants from the state’s public education system, health care and other social services.

But in 1999, Prop. 187 was challenged in a legal suit and was found unconstitutional by federal court.

Still, immigration policy continues to be a problem for thousands of U.S. children and their immigrant parents.

From July 1, 2010, to Sept. 31, 2012, almost 23 percent of all 204,810 deportations were issued to parents with citizen children, according to federal data searched and published by Colorlines Magazine a publication of the Applied Research Center, a think tank that promotes racial justice.